Government team tours flooded Kendricktown neighborhood

Officials with the federal and state government got their first look at the flood-ravaged Walnut Grove neighborhood of Kendricktown, and the damage made an impression.

John Hacker

Officials with the federal and state government got their first look at the flood-ravaged Walnut Grove neighborhood of Kendricktown, and the damage made an impression.

“I just thought it was pretty terrible for people to have to live in a situation like this, and evidently this isn’t the first time it’s flooded,” said Candace Adams, area coordinator for the State Emergency Management Agency. “I don’t know how much insurance the people here have, and that’s another factor we have to look at is insurance. If they don’t have any insurance and they don’t have the ability to pay for repairs, etcetera, then that is what counts toward getting a declaration.”

Four people, making up one of eight damage assessment teams touring the state, spent a little more than an hour in Kendricktown, talking to residents and making quick estimates of the damage to people’s homes.

Adams said their information will go in with the information gathered at other flood-damaged sites, and the state and federal governments will decide whether to declare a disaster in the area, and what kind of disaster to declare.

“We’re going county by county to see how much damage each county has, and that includes the cities,” Adams said. “Then we will tally that up and submit it to the governor who will send it on to the president.”

Some residents and former residents say the area has flooded before, it will flood again and they would be interested in seeing the government buy out the neighborhood.

“They couldn’t write the check fast enough,” said Daniel Franklin, who owns a home on Java Street that his son lives in. That house had more than two feet of water in it, but his son escaped without injury. “Last year we were flooded a few times and every time it gets worse and worse. In 1993, they talked about a buyout, but they just relocated a bunch of people.”

Adams said a buyout is possible if the money is available. She said county officials would have to apply for flood mitigation funds to pay for it.